Motion picture



oct. 27, 1925- 1,558,2l83

W. V. D. KELLEY MOTION PICTURE vFiled Nov. 12 1920 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 v Q w Patented Oct. 27, 1925.

UNITED STATES PATENT oFFlcE.

WILLI v. D. KELLEY, OF NEWARK, NETF- JERSEY, ASSIG'NOIB.,` BY MESNE ASSIGN- MENTS, '1.0 PBIZvIA, INCORPORATED, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

MOTION PICTURE.

Application illed November 12, 1920. 'Serial N'o. 423,533.

To all whom it may concmn:

Be it known that I, VILLIAM V. D. KEL- LEY, a citizen of the vUnited States, and resident of Newark, in the county ot Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new 'and useful Improvements in Motion Pictures, of which the' following isa specification.

-This invention relates 'to motion pictures, and has for its object to provide means whereby motion icture records may be made in black an white progressing into natural color, or vice versa, the purpose of the invention being to enable novel effects to be obtained, for example, by causing the view to at first a pear 1n black and white and then gradual shift into natural color.

To` accomplish t is I have devised a novel method and apparatus for taking such pictures, together with the novel resulting products, constituting this invention.

The process consists in providing an or-` dinary color picture camera, wherein the color filter is normally synchronized with the film feed so as to expose each film area to one color, with a supplementary screen actuating mechanism whereby the screen can be advanced or retarded at will relatively to the film feed so that each picture area is exposed to colors. When the colors are complementary orange-red and green-blue, for example, and panchromatic negative emulsion is used,where each image area is exposed equally to eachcolor, a black and white image value record will be roduced, while with only one color ex ose to each image area, the usual color va ue image will be produced. Where an exposure of one picture is reater to one color than to the other, an image of the redominant color value will be produced, ut the succeeding image will predominate in values of the other color where a two color screen is used.

Thus, in a long strip` the images may be considered as in pairs, the first ones being equally exposed to both colors and forming ordinary black and white value images, an

as the screen is asynchronously driven with respect to the film feed the color values commence to increase until finally each image records pure/color. As the images will Y be in pairs, the color values will alternate. By providing manual means for .controlling the movement of the screen relatlvely to the film feed in this manner, the number of plctures required to complete the shift is controllable at will. It will also be understood that the series can be started with pure color value images and progressively change into black and white value images.

Having obtained a negative strip containing such values, the next step is to print alternate images on single or double coated positive in one stratum or layer, and tht` remaining images in exact registry with the first in the remaining stratum or another layer, so that the images of each pair are superposed in exact registry. If double coated positive film be used for this purpose, one side will now"be colored red-orange, and the other side complementary greenblue, which will give a black and white positive image where the film contains black and white values, and color value images .where the film contains color value images. In coloring, it is of course insured that the green value images will be colored red, and the red value images will be colored green, accordin to the usual practice in coloring motion plcture film. For an explanation of the printing and coloring steps to be employed, reference may be had to my Patent 1,259,411 of March 12, 1918, the negative Strip obtained by the process of this invention being printed and registered on the positive in the same manner as disclosed in said patent, but the coloring method may be the same as there described, or any other suitable known method.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is an elevation of a camera emembodying the invention,

Figure 2 a view with the front removed` showing the arrangement of screen and driving mechanism,

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic view of an ob'ect,

igure 4 is a diagrammatic view of a ne ative strip,

igure 5 a view of one side of the positive,

Figure 6 a View of theV other side,

Figure 7 represents a section of positive carrying coatingson opposite sides,

Figure 8 a section of positive with coatings on one side carrying two 'superposed images,

Figure 9 is a diagram of the screen posiposition synchronized to`reco value on each image.

l from the main shaft 7 b;

1 re resents a camera having a window 2,y

with t e usual lens -tube 3, carrying suitable lenses, not shown. Mounted in front of the window 2 on shaft 4, is the color'screen 5 having alternate sectors R G R G, each sector sufiicing for a complete exposure. 6 represents the film running cver ,suitable sprockets and positioning devices built according to common practice, and driven crank 8. The shaft 7 carries a gear 9 w ich .meshes with a gear 10 on a shaft 11, which latter gear meshes with a ear 12 on the shutter-shaft 13 loose on shafgt 4. The shaft 4 carries the color screen 5 and the shaft13 the shutter The sliaft 4 carries a gear 15 which is driven by a gear 16 mounted on a hollow shaft 17, surrounding the shaft 11, and the l shafts 11 and 17 are coupled together by a 18 is in a median position the screen and' driving connection whereby the shaft 11,

' which drives the color screen on shaft 4 can be angularly shifted in either direction relatively to the shaft 11 which drives the shutter 14 on hollow shaft 13. The shutter runs at a constant speed owing to the direct drivinpr connection from sli/aft 7 through gears 9, 10, and 12, and the shafts 11 and 17 are coupled together b a collar 18 which is spirally s lined to s aft 11 by spiral spline 19 an to shaft 17 by `spiral spline 20, the collar 18 having corre nding' spiral grooves or notches 21-22, or driving'both shafts together. When the collar shutter will both be driven in synclironism, with the screen making an exposure to a single color through one sector while the' shutter uncovers the window, vwith the film shift occurring lwhile the shutter covers the window and then the exposure to the other color occurs. through the followin of an ordinary'motion picture camera with synchronized color screen, shutter, film feed,

etc., operated by the ordinary hand crank 8.

sector lof the screen. The operation ist us that posare period d of cause each exppsure 'be made rtly with one color of t escreen and part y with the succeeding color, the next exposure taking the balance of the second color and a portion of the other color from the third sector of thescreen. The mechanism here described is such as to permit this shifting to be progressive during a series of ex ures, or a certain amount of shift can made and thenheld or the -shift can be made periodically. In practice with the mechanism here described a shift of the color screen of 45 will be sutiicient to change from v'a black and white exposure on each picture area, due to equal exposure to both red and green, to a complete but different color ex 're for each picture due to the screen being exactly s nchronized with the shutter. During the s ift, it w-ill be seen that the screen moves as chronously with resptect to the shutter.

o accomplish the shi the rotating eollar 18 carries a ring usual manner, as for example makin straight color exposures, and mayl then gra ually shift the screen b operating crank 30 until the screen has s ifted 45 at which 23 which is engaged 'with a shiftin lever 24, pvoted at 25 on a time the operator will know that black and white exposures are beingh made.

Figure 3shows a conventional object comof red, white, n and black portions, and Fi re 4 s ows a strip of negat-ives produ by starting with the screen shiftedv to the position to take black and white negatives, shown diagrammatically in Figure 9, as at a, and rogressively shifted through the 'position sliown in Fi re 10, to the straight color position shown in Figure 11. Figure 4 shows at a and b the negtives made during ,the exposure periods a and b of Fi re 9, the negative o of Figure 4 throu h t e ex ure period c of-Figum 10, whic prepon erates in red ex re 9win to the shift of the screen, whi e ne tive d 1n Figure 4 being` made through t e exin green value record. The negative e ofl Figure 4 isl a red value negative made through the exposure period e of Figure 11, while the negative of Figure 4 is a green value negative my e through the exposure period f of Figure 11. It will be under stood that in ractice a considerable number of'pictures wi l elapsev between the taking of negatives a and b, and e and f, the gradation between each air being almost imperceptible, but the shift can be made as fast as igure 10 preponderates lasv ' cords a single color.

the o erator actuates crank 30. Having accomp ished the shift in one direction, as from black and white `to color, reversing the movement will cause the shift to go from color` *o blackand white.

unless the projecting color screen can be shiftedmore or less in the same relation as the taking screen had been shifted. A positive strip made directl from the nega-tives of Figure 4 could also alternately colored by toning or dyeing with complementary red and green, and projected at twice the normal projecting speed of black and white pictures.

In order to avoid the necessity of special projecting means, as well as the necessity of using projecting screens at all, this invention contemplates'the makin of a sitive strip which can be colore accor ing to known methods, so as to be projectible in an ordinary projector at normal speed.

This I laccomplish by superposing the negatives of each pair so as to form .a composite positive image, and then coloring corresponding positives of each pair with a like color complementary to the color values of those pairs in which each image re- In present day cameras for takin color value pictures, means are provided or marking the green or red value images, and sometimes both so that these same marking devices with one set to mark a pure color value image will enable the pairs to be distinguished in the negative, so that when the positive is printed and developed the operator will know which color to apply.

The composite positive can be made on ordinary double coated positive as shown in Figure 7 in which images a ce are on one side and images?) d f registered therewith on the other side, or on a positive such as shown in Figure 8 in which lmages a c e are in one stratum and images b d f in another of emulsion on one side of the positive. In making the positive prints, careful registration must be had, which can be accomplished according to the method disclosed in patent to Kelley and Mason 1,350,023 dated August 17th, 1920, and the coloring of double coated positive can be carried out as disclosed in my Patent 1,259,411 of March 12, 1918. In so far as the coloring of the images of black and white pairs is concerned, it will obviously make no difference which color is applied to vthe respective images of thepair,

but the color reproduction in the final posi-A tive will not beaccurate unless the pairs of sin rle color value images e f are colored with complementary colors. Thus the positive areas a c e will always be colored a like color as green (see Fig. 6) and the positive areas b d f will always be colored red (see Figure 5).

The method of making the positive shown in Figure 8 may be by printing images b d f in one coating, developing, coloring, varnishing, resensitizing and then printing images a c e in registration,l developing and coloring, or by printing different colors in one coating according to known Amethods an example of which is my Patent 1,278,161, Se tember 10,1918.

nstead of coloring the positive images as in Patent 1,259,411, it is obvious that gelatin coloring and bichromating coloring methods may be used, many of which are well known in the art. lVhere I use the term coloring, I mean to include both the toning and dyeing of silver images, as well as the equivalent treatment of gelatin to fix color, usually by acid dyes. It is further to be understood that the changing of negatives into color positives, several methods for which are known, is to be regarded as an equivalent method, -for the purpose of coloring the projecting positive areas, to the particular method of changing a black and white posii tive image to a transparent color image referred to herein by way of example and not as a limitation.

This invention furnishes decided features of novelty in the method, apparatus, and product, and is of decided advantage in the commercial art because of the facility with which a black and white film can gradually merge into a color film or vice versa, thus not only producing4 an effect of unusual interest to audiences, but exemplifying the advantages of rendition in natural color by reason of enhanced perspective, accurzufy, etc.

This invention is useful for transformation pictures in which a film strip representing for example, the face of a woman against a background of a huge lily, and otherwise lifeless or inanimate, shown first in black and white giving the effect of paleness in the face and absence of color in the lily, and slowly and imperceptibly transforms the lifeless picture into one of natural color, beauty and life. These transformations can be effected in from two feet of standard film up, and eight to twelve or twenty feet give very satisfactory results, each foot of standard film ordinarily containing sixteen pictures.

The invention is susceptible to various modifications.u in apparatus and procedure herein described Without departing from its broad scope, as I believe I am the first to provide a method and apparatus whereby a shift can be made between black and white l sively varying the values recorded in a series o f `,negatives made on anchromatic emulsion between black and white and cycles of pure colors.

2. The method which consists in making successive exposures of panchromatic ne aftive while asynchronously moving co or screens together recording complete color to vary the values recorded progressively between black and white colors.

3. The method of producing a film changing from black and white to color in projection, which consists in making successive pairs of negatives wherein the pictures of each pair are each exposed to two complementary'colors progressively inversely varying during the series until each picture of a pair records a single color,v su rposing prints of each pair on each areao positive, and coloring the positive emulsion carrying correspondin positives of each pair with colors such t at each positive area reproduces pictures varying between fblack and white and natural color according to the l total values on each area.

p progressively varying.

d p4. VThe method which Vconsists in producin a sitivehavin color values va in beweelliilack and whigte values and/cycl'gs 0% pure color values, and colorin said positives in such manner as to repro uce pictures in'. projection, varying between black and white and natural colors. l

5. An image carrying strip having pairs of ima e records, one image of each pair prepoii erating in recording one color, and v the other image preponderutingin recording a complementary color, the preponderance of color value records in the series 6. Arstrip of photographicimages progressivel varying between images recording blacli and white values and images recording pure colors.

7. strip of photographic images progressivel varying between images recording blac and whitevalues and alternating images each recording one of two complement-ary colors.

8. A photographic positive film strip' having a series of images at one portion substantially recording black and white and progressively changing into images at another portion each recording a sin le color,

9. A photographic positive ni strip having a seriesofima es at one Substantial] recording b ack and white and progressive y changingvinto images at an- `ditferent strata registered images,

and cycles of pure r in sequence an in sequence an ortion` other portion each recording a single color, the colors recorded by successive latter images being complementary..

10. A. photographic positive strip having a series of image areas each 'ng in e images in one stratum being colored with one color and those in the other stratum with a complementary color, and the images varying in recordiii color so that at one ,portion the colored images on an area together 'produce a black and white picture and at` another portion` the colored images on an area produce a natural color picture. 11. A photographic positive strip havin a series of image areas each carrying in di n the colored images on an area together produce a tinted picture preponderating in black and whte'cli'aracteristics and at another portion the colored images on an area produce a picture preponderating in natural color characteristics, and the pictures on intervening areas progressively varying from one to the other. 4

12. A cinematographic film comprising a succession of pictures each of which bears record of light rays to substantially complementary colorsgjthe records of rays of different ones of said complementary colors -predominating in\respectively successive pictures.

13. A cinematographic film comprisinga succession of pictures each ofwhich bears record of light rays .successively limited to a plurality of colors respective] corresponding in value to different efinitely limited portions of the visible spectrum, the record of light rays of a different color (predominating in successive pictures an a given icture bearing record of light rays of a co or recorded .in the picture preceding said given picture. y

14. A motion picture positive comprisin a series of black and white images arran to be projected in sequence, a series of multi-color ima es arranged to be vprojected t? a third series arranged to be projected in sequence between the `other two series and` so colored as to act as a buffer series to lessen the a parent contrast 15. A motion picture positive comprisiii a series of black and white images arrange to be projected in sequence, a series of loo `between the black and' w ite and multil vcolor series when projected.

multi-color images arranged to be projected,v 4

a third series arranged to be projected in sequence between the other two series and so colored as to harmonize with the 'multi-color series and as to actas va buffer series to lessen the a parent contrast between the black and whlte and multi-color series when projected.

16. In cinematogra hy the process consisting in limiting the light rays acting upon each one of a plurality of 'successive image areas of a film, successively to a' plurality `of colors one of which predominates, said any given image area being employed also with respect to the image area succeeding said given image area.v

17 In cinematography the process consisting in limiting the light rays acting eupon each one of a plurality of successive image areas of a film, successively to the same plurality of colors a different onev of which predominates with respect to successive ima e areas, the light acting upon said film havlng at all times a color as distinguished from white light.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 11th day of November, A. D. 1920.

' WILLIAM V. D. KELLEY. 

